Freak Scene #42: LuxDeluxe Are Definitely Back on Bold New LP
Plus, the latest from Connecticut musician Greenholt and a peek into the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we revel in the return of LuxDeluxe, discover Greenholt and, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, feel grateful to live in the same community as the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts.
It’s been seven years since LuxDeluxe last released an album, and here they come, swaggering back like nothing has changed. Actually, that’s not true: they’ve changed. The Northampton group is better than ever on a new self-titled album.
The songs are tight but never fussy, and the musicians play together with a worldly confidence that wasn’t always there before. That surely has to do simply with experience: since Let’s Do Lunch in 2017, all four returning members — drummer Jake Edwards, singer Ned King, guitarist Caleb Rosazza and bassist Jacob Rosazza — have honed their chops playing with other musicians, including Kimaya Diggs and Jake Manzi. As it happens, Manzi is the newest addition to LuxDeluxe, on guitar, following the pre-pandemic departure of former keyboardist Gabe Bernini.
Speaking of pandemics, that accounts for much of the delay between albums. “LuxDeluxe records live in a room together, which was not possible for a significant period of time,” King says by email.
They compensated by filtering into the studio by themselves or in pairs to lay down demos, and by the time they were able to fully reconvene, they had a big pile of songs to sort through. They chose a dozen with a late-’70s swagger rooted in lean rock ’n’ roll and embedded with deep, danceable grooves that are intended to get you moving. The rhythm section takes that mission seriously: Edwards and Jacob Rosazza team up on a jaunty, hip-shaking beat on “Roman Candle,” for example, and they’re locked in with the precision of clock gears on the punchy “Love Me,” as a riot of ticking guitar parts rachet along over little bursts of organ.
Lux Deluxe make a point throughout of pairing King’s soulful, rawboned voice with bright harmonies. “Hardly Even Try” and the unforgettably catchy “Far Away From It All” feature straightahead backing vocals, while the slower jam “Let You Know” features wordless accompaniment and “Love Me or Let Me Go” contrasts King’s gravelly lead with colorful falsetto parts, along with a rich saxophone break.
The musicians themselves have noted that “these aren’t the songs of kids barely out of high school anymore,” and that’s definitely true. Yet even back then, LuxDeluxe were good. It’s a genuine delight to discover just how great they’ve become.
LuxDeluxe perform tonight, Friday, at the Iron Horse in Northampton, with Christopher Marlon Jennings. Tickets are here.
Greenholt Casts a Long ‘Shadow’
Not only has Garin C. Greenholt kept busy with a steady stream of albums and EPs over the past few years, the Meriden, Conn., musician has an eclectic and far-ranging musical sensibility. Greenholt’s latest, Shadow, spans a wide musical spectrum that includes shiny synth-pop (see “All Night,” shaggy indie-rock built around fuzzed-over guitars (the title track) and cocktail lounge country (“Down”), with a couple of interludes inspired by 8-bit video game music.
One of them, “BOSS LEVEL,” opens the album with blocky Atari-style synths and a quavering digital bassline. It’s a sign that Greenholt doesn’t take himself too seriously, though he’s clearly a serious musician: he played all the instruments here, and recorded and mixed all the songs. His willingness to play with form and style are evident, too: as if the insistent polka rhythm on “Fish Bowl Polka” weren’t enough, the song takes on an anarchic energy thanks to spaghetti Western guitar licks and gleefully buzzing kazoo.
Later, “Ragtime #9” is just as sprightly as could be with a mix of piano and guitar, while Greenholt alternates between kazoo (again) and whispered scat vocals. “Rockin’ in the House” is easygoing and unobtrusively catchy, and Greenholt structured it around chugging acoustic guitar that contrasts with dissonant electric guitar fills that give the impression that songs on two separate radio stations are bleeding into each other.
It’s a clever effect, on an engaging album from a musician who’s absorbed in doing his own thing, but in a way that leaves plenty of room for the rest of us.
Fiddle Orchestra Puts Community in Community Music
A lot of musicians around here perform by themselves, or in bands, but some are part of ensembles: The Florence Community Band, say, or more specialized collectives like the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts or the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra.
Those groups are open to players of different skill levels and perform a varied repertoire, as the fiddle orchestra demonstrated at a concert last Sunday at First Congregational Church in Montague, which was packed. The group also includes guitars, mandolins, piano and bass (and, on Sunday, a bombard, a distinctive looking horn from the oboe family that sounds like bagpipes without the bag), played by people ranging in age from their teens to their 80s. The concert featured audience singalongs, on “Waterbound” (which Rhiannon Giddens covered on her 2021 album They’re Calling Me Home), mini-sets by break-out groups that alternately performed songs composed within sight of the church, and from Eastern Europe. More broadly, the concert featured a sense of community togetherness that was at once fun and powerful. It’s a reminder that music comes in many forms and configurations.
If you missed it, there are more community music performances coming up: the Florence Community Band has a holiday concert Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m. at Northampton High School (full disclosure: my wife is a member), and the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra plays Dec. 31 in Sweeney Concert Hall on the Smith campus at 4 and 5 p.m. as part of First Night Northampton.
Upcoming Concerts
The Northampton Artisan Fair happens Saturday, Nov. 30, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at 33 Hawley St., where Carrie Ferguson, Kim Chin-Gibbons and Lily Sexton will perform as part of the festivities.
Speaking of community music, Welcome Yule: A Midwinter Celebration happens Dec. 13-15 at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls. Billed as “an annual celebration of the light-filled traditions of the darkest time of the year, and their roots in many ancient cultures,” Welcome Yule features singing, dancing and a form of theatrical swordplay known as mumming. Tickets are here.
Next week: New music from Erin McKeown, the Greys and Gentle Hen!
Freak Scene is always seeking submissions. You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.
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